


Crystal Structures, Defects and Blunders

by Byacolate



Category: Pillars of Eternity
Genre: Blood and Injury, Drabble Collection, Established Relationship, F/M, Public Display of Affection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-11
Updated: 2016-04-12
Packaged: 2018-06-01 14:44:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,955
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6524425
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Byacolate/pseuds/Byacolate
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He doesn’t want to give Edér the satisfaction of watching him melt under affection like a common housecat.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> The Watcher here is written as Death Godlike because of Hiravias' ongoing fascination (fetish) for terrifying things, but is otherwise fairly nondescript.

“Not much of an assassin, soilin’ himself at the sight of his mark like that,” Edér muses, nudging the corpse with the toe of his boot. Aloth wrinkles his nose and tucks his grimoire away with a sniff of distaste.

 

“I’m not certain it was the Watcher who terrified him so,” he says. She knows Aloth means it as a kindness though she knows better, even as he stares pointedly just over her shoulder. A satisfied grumble makes to agree.

 

Pallegina swipes the valuables from the corpse‘s belt, clicking her tongue. “I agree with the wizard - you may have startled him, but it was Hiravias who inspired such a... base reaction.”

 

A deep, throaty chuckle answers her. “It was a combined effort to bring real meaning back to ‘scared shitless’.”

 

Sagani looks as though she‘s hoping not to get caught smiling, but Edér doesn‘t bother trying to hide his grin. Aloth snorts, and Pallegina lifts the corpse by the back of its robe, hauling it into the dark beyond the treeline.

 

Everything returns to normal in short order - Edér mends the damage done to Aloth’s bedroll in the scuffle, Sagani feeds the jerky salvaged from the assassin‘s pack to Itumaak, and Pallegina returns in due time to stoke the campfire. Hiravias licks human blood from his maw. The Watcher thinks there might still be bits of flesh and viscera between his teeth, but perhaps it‘s a trick of the light. There‘s a shallow, bleeding wound on his shoulder where her assassin got a lucky shot in before his throat was torn out by a startled shape shifter.

 

She has a poultice somewhere, and a roll of bandages, which would be much easier to fetch if he would unlatch his claws from her belt.

 

“I’m just fucking around - he definitely shit himself looking at you. I don’t think he even noticed me until I’d swallowed half his soul. You‘re fucking terrifying, you know that?” His voice is little more than a growly timbre and his eye gleams. Hiravias flashes his teeth in a stelgaer‘s approximate of a smile.

  
She curls her fingers in his scruff and slowly smiles back.


	2. Chapter 2

Forlorn. That‘s a good word for the way Edér looks when he watches her card her fingers through Hiravias’ hair. She doesn’t notice, Wael help her, but Hiravias is a perceptive sort. He can see Edér’s face fall from across the room. Hiravias would wink if the eyepatch didn’t make it so difficult.

 

She‘s busy reading a missive by the dim light in Caed Nua’s dining hall. When her nails scratch just so behind a mangled ear, she doesn’t even catch the falter in his smirk as he shivers with his whole body.

 

Aloth catches Edér’s attention with a gesture, and apparently it‘s more interesting to try and rile Aloth than torture himself watching something small and furry being pet beyond his reach.

 

Serves him right - Hiravias will cling to that skin-face rhyme to his grave.

 

He downs the rest of his cider as carefully as he‘s able without dislodging her hand.

 

“You’ve amassed a godswealth of strays, and you still can’t find anything better to pet than me. Is it my cuddly disposition? My docility?”

 

She doesn’t answer straightaway, finishing the nigh-illegible text before putting it aside with the rest of her duties.

 

“You don’t like it?”

 

“On the contrary,” he says, showing all his teeth. “I’m a puddle. Can puddles be aroused?”

 

She humors him with another scratch behind the ear with her blunt nails - alright, maybe not so imperceptive. He’s not about to get all glassy-eyed and lean against her in the middle of a public hall. Not for pride’s sake or anything - he just doesn’t want to give Edér the satisfaction of watching him melt under affection like a common housecat.

 

“Are you seducing me on purpose, good lady? Here? In front of everyone?”

 

She strokes the fleshy inside of what‘s left of his ear with a thumb before she draws her hand away. He sighs. “Shame.”

 

“Later, perhaps.”

 

Oh. Well. He perks right up.

 

“Did I say shame? I meant, tame! As in, I‘ll try to tame my loins, sweet-toes, but I can‘t make any promises.”

 

He can’t see her eyes behind their dark fleshy screen, but the quirk of her mouth speaks volumes. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

 

“Do. And feel free to drive Edér just a little nuttier. Arousal makes me vindictive.”

 

Wordlessly, she draws her fingers through Hiravias‘ curls again as she finishes sifting through her missives. Across the hall, Edér slumps in defeat.

 

Good, Hiravias thinks, and maybe possibly leans into the touch. Just a smidgen. Just a hair.


	3. Chapter 3

“Drink,” he grunts, tilting a vial of golden elixir to her mouth. It goes without saying that it‘s bad when she can’t lift her head high enough to drink from Hiravias’ hand. Doesn’t get much closer to the ground than that. The others have scouted ahead through the mines to find a way out, as the way they’ve come has been buried by rubble and stone. The cave-in is what dropped her like a sack of flour in the first place - yanking Aloth out of the line of falling rock only to put herself in its path.

 

She’s bleeding from the head, and there‘ll be a series of ugly bruises along her shoulders and back when they make it out of this. Because they _will_ make it out of this.

 

“Come on, you have to drink,” he says, and heaves her head into his lap with all the delicacy in him. Damn her eyes, wherever they are, that he can’t see them and assess her... here-ness. He thumbs her lips apart and tips the vial bit by bit. It takes a bit of coaxing, but she‘s conscious enough at least to swallow.

 

“That’s it,” he mutters, wiping a golden dribble that runs from the corner of her mouth. “All of it. You nearly cracked your head open like a spring melon - you’ll probably need another one of these. Good thing you’ve got so many bastards following you around with life debts to repay - they left half a dozen behind with us. For you. And me, to play nursemaid.” When the vial is emptied, Hiravias tosses it aside with a distant shatter and reaches for another. “I‘ll do a stellar job of it too with your help. I don’t think I‘m asking too much; all you have to do is not die. Sound fair?”

 

Aloth did his best before they departed, but Hiravias has a healing spell or two of his own. He presses a hand over the sticky-hot gash in her skull and saps the pain (if she’s conscious enough to feel it). A simple knitting spell is the best he can do for a wound so grave, and once that‘s done, he yanks the cork off the second vial with his teeth.

 

Hours pass. At least, that‘s what it feels like. Most of it passes with hushed and mindless chatter from Hiravias, and one tense stand-off (or sit-off, as far as Hiravias was concerned) with an inquisitive xaurip. She doesn’t stir for any of it; Hiravias has to content himself with her ragged inhales and exhales.

 

“You can come to any time now,” he says, slumped over her head. The dark, wispy tendrils that rise from her scalp part into plumes as he slides his fingers through. “Your wizard won‘t forgive himself if this is a permanent sort of stasis. He’s dramatic enough to blame himself. If you’re not around to stop me, I might be inclined to let him.”

 

He waits a beat, and... nothing. She doesn’t rise to the bait.

 

“Alright. So maybe I wouldn’t be heartless in your absence. Riddle me this, then - who inherits Caed Nua? Does it fall to the erl by default? That‘d be a tragedy. Closest thing you have to an heir is, who... Aloth? Kana would beg for it. The big shark knows how to appreciate a good keep though, I‘ll give him that. Edér _looks_ like a groundskeeper - something about that farm boy exterior gives him a real menial labor aura...”

 

She coughs. It‘s ragged with blood and the lingering film of health potion, but it’s also the first real noise he‘s heard from her in hours. Hiravias lays a hand over her throat, feather-light. “You in there?” She coughs again. “Good. That‘s good. Potential responses are better than none at all. Though if I‘m being misled by some twisted deity - if you recall, it's happened before-”

 

Her hand twitches and flops uselessly for a moment against her stomach before it finds one of his. Eagerly he takes it, drawing away from her throat to rest them both against her chest. “Alright. That’s more comforting than I can properly express sitting down. Hey, that‘s a great squeeze - you’re practically verbal.”

 

She coughs again, and his mouth twists in a grimace. “Or... not. Are you smiling right now? I must say, lass, your sense of humor is commendable. And you’re drooling. Here, let me get that...”

 

She drifts in and out, but the in is always heralded by a squeeze to his hand, which is... good. Not great, but he’ll take what he can get.

 

When their wayward companions return without another route to offer that doesn‘t involve rickety bridges or scaling treacherous walls, Maneha, Pallegina, and Edér set to manually hauling away boulders and debris. Aloth falls to the Watcher‘s side, and together he and Hiravias manage to  pump her full of enough healing magic to get her talking again. Once the early light of dawn starts peeking through the cracks of their progress, she‘s able to move herself onto a bedroll for better sleep, and accepts a bowl of Vailian broth.

 

They all get a bit of rest in shifts, working on the exit and sleeping in turns, and finally by midday, there‘s a reasonable amount of space for escape.

 

As the others pack camp away, working familiarly around one another with all the efficiency of a well-oiled machine, Hiravias is left to coax some food into the Watcher and badger her into a standing position. Aloth glances over a dozen times during the process, but hastens back to packing when he catches himself. 

 

She downs a tiny vial of endurance potion at Hiravias’ encouragement while they wait. 

 

“All that chemical magic is bound to give you the shits. Just say the word, and we’ll find you a nice, private corner of the cave where no one will hear you scream.”

 

“Would you like Caed Nua?”

 

It takes him a moment of staring and squinting to catch on. 

 

“Caught all that idle chitchat, did you? The nervous rambling I couldn’t curb for fear of watching you die in my arms? No, I don’t want your keep. What would I do with it? I’m not sure the steward would appreciate a steady diet of banter and venison.” She doesn’t answer, quietly finishing a pack of dried fruit. “Seriously though, about the runs -”

 

“It’s yours, if you change your mind.”

 

Hiravias blinks and snatches the leathery piece of peach she extends to him. He chews as he mulls it over, squinting up at her indecipherable expression. Finally, with a hearty swallow Hiravias clears his throat. Tugs on the hem of his tunic. Hopes he isn’t as red as he thinks he is. “I’ll consider taking the maze.”

 

The corners of her lips curl to form a smile and she passes her fruit-sticky fingers through his hair before she pushes herself away from the wall to hobble toward the exit. He feels tricked somehow, but… warm. 

 

Hiravias does as he does, and follows her out into the blazing sunlight once more.

**Author's Note:**

> @obsidian: dlc to romance the tiny vulgar cat man please and thank you
> 
> Title from Lady Lamb's “Taxidermist Taxidermist”.
> 
> Inquire about fic requests [here!](http://wardencommando.tumblr.com/ask)  
> If you are so inclined, feel free to follow [my Tumblr](http://wardencommando.tumblr.com/).


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